Anthony Volpe rounded the bases, touched home plate and then waited out the uncertainty like everyone else.
“Just hoping for the best,” the New York Yankees infielder said. “Crazy.”
With the Yankees’ season at stake, Volpe was denied a tying home run against the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 3 of their AL Division Series when a replay review determined a fan interfered with his drive to deep left field Wednesday night.
The swing of emotions came nearly 30 years to the day after young fan Jeffrey Maier reached over the right-field wall at Yankee Stadium on a ball hit by Derek Jeter in the 1996 American League Championship Series against Baltimore. With no replay system in place back then, the home team benefited from umpires calling it a home run instead of interference, and New York went on to win the World Series.
This time, the Yankees wound up losing 4-3 by the very run that was taken off the board and had their season end in a three-game sweep.
“I mean, we lost,” Volpe said. “That’s what we’re dealing with now. That’s just what happened.”
Replay umpire Malachi Moore made the call on Volpe’s sixth-inning drive in Major League Baseball’s Replay Center, and players and managers on both sides mostly agreed the right decision was made.
“I thought they got it right,” New York skipper Aaron Boone said. “When he hit it, to my eye looking out there, I was a little concerned right away because it felt like something – I wasn’t sure. And then seeing the replay and seeing it unfold, I thought they did the right thing.”
With George Lombard Jr on base – Austin Wells would have been as well if not for a successful ABS challenge by the Rays – Volpe turned on Griffin Jax’s 96 mph sinker and hit it 357ft to left field. A few feet further and fan interference would have been out of the question.
“He almost had a big home run,” Yankees star Aaron Judge, who missed the series through injury, said. “Off the bat, I liked the chances.”
The play was initially called a two-run homer that would have tied the score at 4-4 with two outs in the sixth. But a lengthy video review determined a fan reached over the wall to catch the ball as Rays left fielder Victor Mesa Jr tried in vain for a leaping grab.
“It was interference,” Mesa said in Spanish. “I believe I might have even been able to get to that ball. Not that it matters whether we won or lost. Well, it’s in the past now. I think they could have even called an out, because I was right there. Everything happens for a reason. It was kind of an in-between call.”
Spectator interference became the ruling, and Volpe was awarded an RBI double that scored Lombard from first base, trimming Tampa Bay’s lead to 4-3.
“I don’t know if he would have caught it or not caught it, the guy would have scored or not,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “Our replay official Nick [Rogers] said the runner had passed second base at the point where the ball hit the fan’s wrist or hand, and makes sense why they awarded him home.”
There was another slight delay after some fans in left threw debris onto the field, and Spencer Jones then struck out against Jax to end the inning.
The fan who reached out to catch the ball was escorted out of Yankee Stadium by security and police.
“After viewing all relevant angles, the Replay Official definitively determined the spectator interfered with the ball over the field of play. The ball would not have left the playing field nor would it have been caught. The call is OVERTURNED, there was spectator interference and no home run. Additionally, the Replay Official scored one run and placed the batter-runner at 2B,” MLB said in a statement from the Replay Center.
Judge knew once he saw the side-angle replay that it was fan interference.
“You go from a tie game to down one,” said starting pitcher Max Fried, who gave up a two-run homer to Mesa in the top of the sixth. “[Volpe] made a great swing, and it’s just the way the game goes sometimes. It’s unfortunate because that changes the game.”
Tampa Bay, who have one of the lowest payrolls in MLB, will play either the Chicago White Sox or Cleveland Guardians for a place in the World Series.
LA Dodgers 4-1 Atlanta Braves
Andy Pages drove in two runs with a bases-loaded single in the seventh inning to give Los Angeles the lead as the Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves to clinch their National League Division Series.
The Dodgers won back-to-back games in Atlanta to take the best-of-five series 3-1 and advance to the National League Championship Series as they seek to become the first NL team to win three consecutive World Series titles.
“We’ve got our work cut out,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, adding extra rest will be important for such players as Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman.
“So kind of enjoy this one, get Shohei a couple of days to get back,” Roberts said. “Freddie, he had a big series, but, again a couple of days will help him. Give our guys in the pen a little reset. So we’ll be ready to go Game 1.”
Pages lined a 3-2 pitch from Robert Suárez up the middle to drive in Teoscar Hernández, who had singled off starter Tyler Mahle, and pinch-runner Tommy Edman for a 3-1 lead. Didier Fuentes had walked pinch-hitter Josue De Paula and Kyle Tucker to load the bases, with Edman running for De Paula.
Max Muncy’s solo homer off Raisel Iglesias in the ninth padded the lead and gave the slugger 19 postseason home runs with the Dodgers, extending his franchise record.
Dodgers right-hander Tyler Glasnow, making his first start since 24 September, allowed just one hit but walked five batters in four and two-thirds innings. After he issued two walks in the fifth, left-hander Alex Vesia ended the inning by inducing a groundout to second base from Matt Olson.
The missed opportunity left the Braves with 18 walks in the series, none of which resulted in a run.
Milwaukee Brewers 3-1 San Diego Padres
Garrett Mitchell tripled and scored the go-ahead run in the fifth inning before making a pivotal catch on Manny Machado’s drive to the wall in the eighth, and the Milwaukee Brewers advanced to the National League Championship Series for the second straight season with victory over the San Diego Padres.
Mitchell also drove in Sal Frelick with Milwaukee’s first run as the Brewers snapped their 12-game postseason road losing streak dating to 2018 and reached the franchise’s fifth League Championship Series.
Machado nearly tied Game 4 with a 406ft drive off reliever Abner Uribe, but Mitchell coolly tracked it down and reached just above the short wall in right-center field to keep it in the park.
Second baseman Brice Turang then ended the eighth with an acrobatic catch of Ty France’s tailing pop-up in foul territory.
After fending off the surging Padres in four tight games decided by a combined five runs, the 103-win Brewers will get an NLCS rematch with the Dodgers, who swept Milwaukee last October on their way to a second consecutive World Series title.
Fernando Tatis Jr hit a 429ft homer on an otherwise tepid offensive night for the Padres, who repeatedly tested the majors’ best regular-season team before falling short of what would have been the fourth NLCS appearance in franchise history.
One night after the Padres avoided elimination in Game 3, Milwaukee claimed their first road playoff win since the 2018 NLCS by sticking to their season-long formula for success.
Four Brewers pitchers combined on a three-hitter and the defense made nearly every big play, while Milwaukee’s lineup patiently worked counts, collected 10 hits against the Padres’ defense and manufactured enough runs to head home with a victory.
Game 2 hero Jackson Chourio capped his impressive series by driving in Mitchell to become the Brewers’ career leader in postseason RBIs at just 22 years old. Chourio has 17 RBIs, including six in this series, in 16 playoff games.
Cleveland Guardians 9-3 Chicago White Sox
Jo Adell and José Ramírez powered Cleveland with a pair of two-out triples, and the Guardians avoided an AL Division Series sweep by cooling off the Chicago White Sox with a 9-3 victory in Game 3 on Wednesday.
Adell’s three-run triple gave Cleveland a 4-1 lead in the third inning. Ramírez’s three-bagger drove in Travis Bazzana and Patrick Bailey for a 7-3 advantage in the eighth.
“We continued to pile on,” Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said. “I think that’s been the difference of the first couple games to today was Game 2, we were able to get a couple runs but weren’t able to add on. But really good job by our guys today.”
The Guardians hit two triples in a postseason game for the first time in franchise history. They became the first major league team to accomplish the feat since the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 1 of the 2024 World Series against the New York Yankees.
Adell, Ramírez, Bailey and Brayan Rocchio each had two of the team’s 11 hits – a complete turnaround for the AL Central champions after they managed just three runs and seven hits in the first two games of the series combined.
Game 4 is Thursday in Chicago, with the White Sox leading 2-1 in the best-of-five matchup. Once again, they’ll try to clinch a postseason series at home for the first time since the 1906 World Series against the Chicago Cubs.
